Climate Connections

1
Climate Connections

• By DCMS Lego team Charging Panthers

2
Climate and Weather

• The difference between weather and climate is
  that weather is a change in our environment, and
  climate is a change in our environment over a
  long period of time. Our climate problem that
  well be talking about today are droughts.

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Climate Change Problems in Kentucky

• Droughts occur when water is so scarce that the
  existence of life becomes threatened. This is a
  major problem in our community, and it most
  definitely needs to be fixed.

http//scienceandpublicpolicy.org/originals/kentuc
ky_climate_profile.html
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Droughts

• Droughts are also a climate problem in
  Mozambique, Africa. To solve this problem, Skylab
  astronauts take pictures of Africa to discover
  possible water sources. Here is a picture of
  drought-stricken Mozambique.

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The Significant Drought in Kentucky

• The largest drought in Daviess County history
  started on September 9, 1999 at 1201 A.M. and
  ended on September 30, 1999 1159P.M. It
  destroyed 154,000,000 crops in this county. There
  were no deaths or injuries after this drought,
  but 21 other counties in Kentucky were affected
  by it.
• This picture to the
• right was taken
• after the 2007 drought
• in Kentucky.

6
Mr. Hardy

• We contacted a professor from the Department of
  Agriculture named Mr. Hardy. We asked him a few
  questions and here is what he responded with

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How Has Drought Affected Us Over the Years?

• Mr. Hardy says It has made our land very dry
  and it has destroyed millions of crops in our
  county. It has cost us millions and millions of
  dollars throughout history.

8
How Many Droughts Have We Had Over the Past 10 or
15 Years?

• Mr. Hardy says There werent many severe
  droughts. But weve had a minimum of 8 or 9
  droughts in the past ten or fifteen years.

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How Many Crops Have Been Damaged from these
Droughts?

• Mr. Hardy says All of the crops that we have
  produced have been damaged by droughts, but other
  counties crops have been affected too.

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Has Droughts Been A Major Issue in Daviess County?

• Mr. Hardy says We endured a major drought in
  2007, and another one in 2008. So the problem of
  lower rainfall HAS affected Daviess County.

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How Can We Solve the Problem of Droughts in
Daviess County?

• Mr. Hardy says Droughts are a very difficult
  problem to solve. A solution is to start planting
  crops early, also to conserve moisture.

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Is There Any Emergency Supply of Water in Case of
A Drought?

• Mr. Hardy lastly says There are some forms,
  like springs and under wells, that the farmers
  can use to pump the water up to the surface. We
  also have the Green River as an emergency supply
  of water.
• Underground Spring Green
  River

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Solutions

• Another solution to destroy droughts are
• Using aquifers to store extra water underground
• Try to rethink your water storage technique and
  make it better

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Resources

• http//www.idcide.com
• http//www.water.ky.gov
• Clint Hardy from The University of Kentuckys
  Department of Agriculture